J Korean Gastric Cancer Assoc.  2003 Jun;3(2):84-87.

Mutational Analysis of Proapoptotic Bcl-2 Family Members in Gastric Carcinomas

• Yoo NJ
• Lee JW
• Soung YH
• Kim HS
• Park WS
• Lee JY
• Lee SH

Abstract

PURPOSE
Evidence exists that dysregulation of Bcl-2 family members is involved in the pathogenesis of cancer development. The aim of this study was to explore whether the somatic mutation of proapoptotic Bcl-2 member genes, one of the mechanisms that prolong the survival of cancer cells, is involved in gastric carcinogenesis.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
In the current study, to detect somatic mutations of the DNA sequences encoding the Bcl-2 homology 3 (BH3) domain of the human BAD, BIM, BIK, and Bcl-G genes in 60 advanced gastric adenocarcinomas, we used the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), single strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP), and DNA sequencing.
RESULTS
The SSCP analysis revealed no mutations in the coding regions of the BH3 domain in the cancers.
CONCLUSION
The data presented here indicate that proapoptotic Bcl-2 member genes, BAD, BIM, BIK, and Bcl-G, may not be mutated in human gastric carcinomas and suggest that these genes might be altered by mechanisms other mechanisms somatic mutation.

Keyword

Gastric carcinoma; BAD; BIM; BIK; Bcl-G; Apoptosis; Mutation

MeSH Terms

Adenocarcinoma
Apoptosis
Base Sequence
Carcinogenesis
Clinical Coding
Humans
Polymerase Chain Reaction
Polymorphism, Single-Stranded Conformational
Sequence Analysis, DNA